i find it very strange that people are lamenting about their low salary after being "scammed". It is overpriced yes but you are willing to pay for it when the salesperson sold u. Didnt you know how much you earning when you decided to buy that 2 rings and 1 bracelet??? I am amazed you are so willing to pay for the 2 SAPHIRE RING 1 MATCHING BRACELET when you said your monthly earnings is barely enough to support the family. Of course you deserve to pamper yourself but dun make yourself sounds so pitiful.

To Irene. Don't be so naive and full of hot air when you're not in the situation. I share the sentiment of Norzani. I can tell you this scam works like trap. Once you're marked as victim, it is quite hard to get away. You have no idea how elaborated the scam can be. In fact, you'll be talk into buying by the shop itself or some "man on the street" that it is below market rate. And it can be redeem back at full value or more at your home country. You'll think that it worth a lot and you can redeem back your money by selling it off when you need the cash. And it is TRUE that most of the victim do not have the mean to buy those jewelery!!!

based on what u said, the one who is naive seem to be u. Anyway I was attempted by scammers before, I was also brought to some jewellery shop by Tuk Tuk but i dunno if it is Yindee. They did try to sell but they didnt force, many times people bought to satisfy their own materialistic needs, nothing wrong with that definitely, what I meant is if you bought it willingly, then dun complain.

"You have no idea how elaborated the scam can be. In fact, you'll be talk into buying by the shop itself or some "man on the street" that it is below market rate. And it can be redeem back at full value or more at your home country." - i seriously cun empthasize here because i always manage to get away by smiling and walking away.

N also I agree that they did not force on anyone to buy....

yes there are the scams and the pressure but the opportuinity to smile and say no thankyou or myowlkhup is still there

just to share i do know of victims getting refund back from Yindee Lapidiary. I'm one of them.
Went in feb 08.

Guys/gals: u really have to go through it to know how elaborated these scams are and of course i dont deny greediness is human's one weak point. But I treat it as a lesson learnt. Dont be hard on the poor lady.

Norzani : If u want to get your refund back, u need to go back bangkok again.

Hi Norzani, you can send a mail to Mr Suchat of the Department of Internal Trade. His email address is : This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Get ready all your documents (receipts, certificate of the gems and a copy of your passport) and Mr Suchat will at least get you back 80% of the amount you have paid.
Good luck to you :)

Hi Linda, Norzani - I falled into the same trapped.
I have written to Mr Suchat, but yet to receive response.

How long will it normally take?
Can you share?

I was scammed. Same story like the rest, driver brought me to Lucky temple. The so-called tourist introduced me the Golden Argosy Factory Export Centre. Now I plan to go back for a refund.

Got scammed in same way at Golden Argosy. Could not go back to shop as I had to take flight.

Have raised as dispute payment with my credit card company. Lets see what happens. I dont see if I can get my money back. Only thing I can say is that I am currently feeling down as my hard earned money are taken by crooks.

But will keep on fighting as thats the way of life.

Hi WS,

Sorry for the late reply. If he didnt reply, perhaps you can give him a call? He is really a kind and helpful person.
For my case, I called him and he asked me to go to his office with the documents and the gem. When I was at his office, he made a call to the gem store and the thing just got settled on the same day itself.

The website address: http://www.dit.go.th/diteng/

i bought from yindee lab. on june 2006, wht should i do now? any comment and suggestion? I am so worry now

Hi but can help to advise if it is a must to get a gemologist to access the value of the jewellery?

Can I still get my refund wo visiting the gemologist? Dun wish to incure anymore further expenses.

Can pls advise me too if I am able to go down DIT during the weekends to resolve the case?

thank you so much

I tell every one do you buy the jewelry for personal use the best way is visit the nearest jewelry shop in your area and ask them that you need the same jewelry you bought. And show to them and tell them this jewelry belongs to your friend and you need the same .And wait for how much it cost and if is the same cost is fine if is more expensive great you bought more better or . And if you bought for sale take it as lesson you know that great buyer always buy expensive on first deal ok


Forget everything just mind your future

Gemologist never tell price they just check it is fake or real ok

Me and my wife are Malaysian and had landed in KL today afternoon, back from Bangkok for holiday. I just want to share my experience about this whole scam. We were about to enter The Central World, Pratunam area about 2 pm. There are some Buddha statue outside the mall and we pray a while before making our move to the mall. Then, We were approached by a Thai local guy just outside the mall. He appears friendly and helpful and suggested that we go pray at a local temple which is about 5 minutes away by tuk tuk if we really wanted to pray and ask for blessing. He told us that this temple is very special and only open once a month, and of course he said that day is our lucky day because the temple is open. He told us that the lucky buddha inside the temple is made of gold and that is why it is only open once a month during "Buddhist Day". Being helpful, he help us get a tuk tuk for 30 Bath. The tuk tuk is suppose to send us to the temple and then send us back to The Central World.

And off we go to the temple. There is nothing really special about this temple. and in the temple, we met a Thai who claimed to be on holiday there. He said he is a PR in Singapore and is waiting for his wife and daughter. He told us that he just bought a full set of jewelry from Yindee for just USD2,500 for his wife. He told us that it is a good deal because the market price for the jewelry is about USD10,000. He said Poh Hing (Singapore) and Poh Kong (Malaysia) also buy from Yindee. He said Yindee is celebrating its 30th anniversary, that is why it is selling cheap. He also told us a lot of convincing stories i.e. a pair of malaysian also buy from yindee when he is buying his jewelry.

Me and my wife also think that it is a good bargain but in the end decided not to go to Yindee because both of us is not really into jewelry. So we hop into our tuk tuk, which is still waiting outside the temple. However, to our horror, on the way back to the mall, this tuk tuk driver stop in front of the Yindee jewelry shop! We never told the tuk tuk driver about this yindee story and suspected that this could be a scam. We refused to get off the tuk tuk and told the driver to send us back to the mall as promised earlier. We told him that we will pay him extra if he send us back. And fortunately he did sent us back. while in the tuk tuk, i pretend to make some phone calls just to scare the tuk tuk so that he will not do anything to us. I paid him 30 bath upon reaching the mall.

And to my surprise now, after doing some google, a lot of people actually fall for this Yindee scam!

EW, unfortunately this country has gone downhill. I am so pleased that you didnt get robbed or scammed

I have to laugh at this somchai person, not one intelligent bone in its body, yes many foreigners are very happy to leave, too many murders of foreigners too many coincidences of strange happenings in this not so magical country. Give me a Singaporean/Malaysian/Korean/Japan woman any day!!!!!!

Full marks for staying in the tuk tuk and demanding you go back to central world. If more people stood their ground like this the scams would reduce considerably.

If the driver had refused you could have just got an ordinary taxi, at least all of the drivers know where central world is!

I have quite same story, it happen in Wat Suthat, a thai man called himself boss of Wat Suthat telling me how lucky I was and asked me to go Royal Jewelery shop because it's only 1 day sale :)
Anyway, looks like they tried to misled you into going into the shop, maybe the man is an employee of the shop. For the tuktuk, he said that he'll get fuel coupon if he brought us to certain shop.
Btw, I was lucky to find a shop (big one) who sells nice ruby :), finally got myself a nice colored ruby.

"EW, unfortunately this country has gone downhill."

Has it ever been uphill?

I see most of the people here who was scammed only serched for information fater they were scammed...Same case as me..sad...I really feel sad for Thailand to be in this dire situation to scam tourist ... I just came back from BKK this morning and I was scammed 3 times in 3 days...could be worse, I think...

Hello! I also was scamed in BKK. Is it possible do send the sapphire rings back per delivery service??

Gosh....this had happened to me & my friends, we were told about the Lucky Buddha by a man mentioned he is working as a manager at the World Trade Ctr.

He is friendly and helpful and suggested that we go pray at a local temple of a Lucky Buddha. He told us that this temple is very special and only open once a month, and of course he said that day is our lucky day because the temple is open. Being helpful, he help us get a tuk tuk for 30 Bath to & back.

When we reach the Lucky Buddha temple, we met a Thai who mention about "Buddha's Heart" which is a Orange Sapphire. He told us that only their Thai King who can have this "Buddha's Heart". He said currently the Thailand King had given permission to the Thailand Jewellery shop to sell & share the Orange Sapphire, which is the Buddha Heart.

This Thai Guy mentioned he had a sister whom is married to the son of Poh Heng Jewellery Shop of Singapore & Poh Heng Jewellery Shop will pay a high price to us if we decided to sell off the so called Buddha Heart.

We were recommened to go down to Yindee Lapidari Co. Ltd to purchase the Orange Sapphire, which is limited of 3 sets per customers. Unfortuantely my friends & I have bought 1 sets each.

i just wonder, aren't they are afraid punishment from Buddha?

OMG..after reading this website and comments did myself and friends realised that we have been scammed too while in BKK..on 08 July 2009

The whole scenario is narrated and exactly the same as mentioned by ROSE.

1st approached-the Lucky Buddha claimed he is working as a manager at the World Trade Ctr.

He is friendly and helpful and suggested that we go pray at a local temple of a Lucky Buddha which only open once a month which is today, help us get a tuk tuk for 30 Baht to & fro.

2nd approach-the Lucky Buddha temple, a well dressed Thai man mentioned about "Buddha's Heart" which is a Orange Sapphire which only Thai King who can have this "Buddha's Heart". He said currently the Thailand King had given permission to the Thailand Jewellery shop to sell & share the Orange Sapphire, which is the Buddha Heart to the public.

This Thai Guy mentioned he had a sister whom is married to the son of Poh Heng Jewellery Shop of Singapore & Poh Heng Jewellery Shop will desperately pay a high price to us if we decided to sell off the so called Buddha Heart.

He even mentioned about his mom having an illness where her bone on her leg is crooked and is limbed, and after his wife gave her some drinks with 'Buddha's heart', she was able to stand up and walk miraculously 8 years ago. He even mentioned about the 3 surviving victims at the AirAsia aircrash at Krabi where the 3 surviving victims carrys the 'Buddha's Heart'.

After 15-30mins of conveyancing by the well dressed man, a monk came in to recite and splashed some water on us afterwhich taking the same tuk tuks to Yindee Lapidari Co Ltd.

3rd approach- well versed English speaking sales woman at Yindee Lapidari Co. Ltd came to us explaining the difference between glass and Orange Sapphire with a detector, afterwhich told us (me and my friends) that today is their last day of sales which we are able to enjoy 30% off the retail price and tax exempted and limited to 3 pieces of Orange Sapphire per year. But the highly recommended matching set (earrings, pendant, bracelet) of rare Orange Sapphire were out to stocks. And so the sales women immediately show us all other designs of rings, earrings & pendants which all of us at least bought 1 piece of the Buddha's heart.

Is there any way that we can get a refund or advise from anyone what can be done?

I wonder why scam reported by myself and a friend was not published.

It was exactly liked what happened to Rose, Meeting a nice "English speaking" Thai guy claimed as head of security of Pratunam Complex, talked us to Lucky Buddha, and met another 2 more english speaking guys, one talk about good return of jewel and another talk about the protection of the orange sapphire ( buddha heart) posseses. Talked about Poh Kong in Malaysia buying from Yindee, showed us call card of a maybank staff. Our not so lucky day happened on the 4 July 2009, a Saturday that we thought Thai people were so kind and helpful...

We have lodged a police report day after we landed in KL. Last but not least, we are so into taking photos, until we got picture of the so called Lucky Buddha, and the tuk tuk driver photo too ( from the back) and we remember the tuk-tuk numbered sticker too.

These scammers are often police men. Be very careful and just walk away from any nice Thai person is what you need to do.
A real shame these scoundrels are ruining the name of good Thai people.

I met the scam on the last day in bangkok last few days ago. Same old stories as mentioned from you guys. I bought S$1.2k of gems. Luckily after buying, i sense something is wrong. I quickly search for an internet cafe and google on Yindee Lapidary and chance upon this site. I went to make a police report and asked for a police to go with me to the shop to ask for a full refund. The police asked for me 400bhat as the shop is not covered in his area. I agreeded and the police accompany me back to the shop. The shope owner who is a old guy (bastard) attend to us and asked us why we like to have a redund and i told him off that everything is a SCAM and he void the credit card receipt and i call the credit card company on the spot to verify that it is already voided. So pls everyone of you mus becareful when u meet any nice Thai people. Just ignore them...

Thank god for Google because I decided to check the internet after my purchase and found that those guys from Yindee pulled the exact same ruse on me.

If you ever fall victim to this scam or any other scam by retail shops in Bangkok, just make a trip down to the tourist police division located at Bangkok Tower, New Petchburi Road. I went in there and a counter staff politely directed me to the place where I could make a report. When I went in, they asked how they could help me and I told them about the jewelry scam. They took my invoice, called up Yindee and then said a Yindee staff would come down to the tourist police division with a credit voucher to void the credit card transaction made a day earlier.

After about 15 minutes, a guy in Yindee jacket came with the credit vouchers and took back the jewelry. I'm still waiting for the transaction to be voided as it can take up to 3 weeks. The credit voucher does look authentic and the officer from the tourist police division said I could call her back (she gave her number and her name) if the transaction is not voided in three week's time. If you are still in Bangkok when you discovered you have been scammed, a quick trip to the tourist police division is the quickest way to get yourself out of the scam. The time I spent at the tourist police division was only around 30 minutes.

If you have already left Bangkok, perhaps you might want to do as recommended in some of the earlier posts, that is, to email the guy from the Department of Internal Trade. Good luck and do tell your friends not to allow themselves to be taken in the offers of a few random people on the street. These con artists are very scheming and their plan can be so elaborate as to fool seasoned travelers. Just don't trust unsolicited offers. Buy only after you've done your homework on Google to make sure you are not going to be scammed.

OMG. I just realize I also one of the victim.
What should I do?
I already back from bangkok.

read the posts above!

checked with credit card centre, they didn't treat this as dispute matter.
checked with police station and tribunal court, they said very difficult for them to investigate since all happened in Bangkok;(
nothing i can do unless i fly back to Bangkok

I am a new victim... can't believe it...i really tot of buying something really good and special for my mum for her birthday when i back to KL....who knows.. i am part of the victim....

Incident: 13 Aug 2009

nothing different to say as my story is the same as above mentioned:
1. Met a guy in front of central world while me n my fren are on the way to Platinum Mall
2. The guy told us that we are very lucky as the Lucky Temple only open once a month
3. Get us a Tuk-Tuk cost 20 Baht
4. Met another guy in Lucky Temple
5. Telling us the 'unbelievable miracle' of buddha's heart (Orange Sapphire)
6. Mentioned bout Poh Kong daughter-in-law even Maybank's top management personnel to further brain-washing us
7. Telling us it is the last day of sale in Yindee Lapidary co. Ltd for 30% discount
8. Yes, finally me and my fren bought pendants (3 pcs in total - cost us rm4K )

Hope that you can spread this news to whoever around u who are going to BKK ya..good luck!

This is a follow-up to my earlier post on this page dated 04 Aug 2009 regarding the use of credit vouchers to refund purchased merchandise via credit card from Yindee Lapidary.

The credit vouchers issued to me were cleared in about 2.5 weeks from the date of issue. This was in line with the 3 week time frame that the tourist police officer in Bangkok assured. Every cent was refunded, with the except of a very slight currency exchange loss. Going by my experience, it appears that the credit voucher system of refunding purchases is indeed reliable, although I cannot say for sure that the credit voucher will always be honored, especially when the tourist police is not involved the the process of getting a refund.

If you are reading this webpage and realised you have been scammed and are still in Bangkok, please quickly make your way down to Bangkok Tower at New Petchburi Road to seek assistance from the tourist police division. The resolution process at the tourist police division is very quick and hassle-free.

You can try as what Aaron said if you are still in Bangkok.

Unfortunately, i already back to Malaysia. Too bad.

I have encountered the same thing in Bangkok around pratunum area too but luckily my friend and I insisted on not buying anything and told them we are just student and we cant afford any of the things in the jewellery shop. People, please be careful when you are in bangkok and DO NOT trust the over-friendly thai people. Thai people are nice but they are rather conservative and shy (according to the hotel staff) and they wont attempt to talk to foreigners. Be extra careful when the locals started to ask you which country are you from.

Same story here as it just happen to me a few day back. I just can't believe that I am so stupid to hear all these nonsense and trust these guys (all so coincident) to purchase what they called "the Buddha's heart"

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the gold shops on this forum,

lots of fake and over valued gold sold in thailand also.

the little k tag (24k) on some of it is just a tag, not meaning anything as to what you are really getting.

the tags are much easier to attach than going to the trouble of some fake value certificate that come with low quality gems

Does anyone have any idea if a visit to Thai Embassy will be of any help? Anyone tried that before?

I am from Malaysia.

I just got scammed too on 4 October 2009. I thought I had a good deal and proudly shared with a Malaysian friend who I bumped into in Bangkok. He asked me to check the stones with the Malaysia jewelers when I go home.

The conversation with him got me worried and I googled the next day. I found what Aaron wrote above and did as suggested. That afternoon (5 October 2009) I went to the Tourist Police at Bangkok Tower. They called up Yindee and a guy came. This guy brought the merchant and bank slips carbon copies that I had signed on (I used credit card to purchase the stones). On those copies were crossed and written "CANCELLED". I retrieved those copies and now felt much better. I had also returned the stones to the Yindee guy.

At least now I have something to show to my local bank back in Malaysia as proof that Yindee had cancelled the purchase.

Yes, if you are still in Bangkok, just head to the Tourist Police. I met a police there who spoke good Malay with Kedah accent. He told me he grew up in Sungai Golok.

Thank you to the creator of this site. It's wonderful to read this and other readers' comments. You people are fantastic for sharing your experience.

By the way, I had made a call to my bank the same night. They couldn't reverse or stop the transaction on the credit card. And advised me to write in. I emailed them and till now have not heard from them. I will cancelled my card with them after this experience.

And I also wrote to the Malaysian embassy via email. No reply till now.

Wrote to DIT as suggested by someone above. No reply too.

The best is to just go to Tourist Police.

My experience:
1. Got conned when someone said he has visited your country and you started to be friendly with him listening to his stories.
2. Got conned when the man said the tuk-tuk can take me to the temple for only 20baht. Suckered in to such cheap fare.
3. Got conned at the temple when another man tells you stories of cheap jewelries that can be sold for a profit in your own country. How greed wins you over.
4. Got conned at the Yindee shop where the lady said that they export to your home country's famous jewelers. And therefore the price is cheap. Producing fake certificates as well. And using a probably fake tester to show you that the diamonds and sapphire are genuine.

EW


were you offered and took some drink ( water, tea or whatever) ?

I have noticed this is common in some of the reports here, could be you were given something to make you more acceptable to being fooled.

Jimmy the Timeshare salesman from Absolute. You are totally misleading people. As you know the office, certainly in Koh Samui constantly misrepresent the product to the people off the street. They illegaly tout innocent people that they know have no idea of timeshare and try to get them to sign up before they have had a chance to find out what a scam the whole thing is. Our personal experience in Samui on a couple of occasions showed that they never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
For instance they don't tell people that they can buy a week every two or three years so as to keep the price way down and the maintenance at a reasonable level. They decide what package they want you to but, usually the most expensive.
If they honestly and openly presented the packages in full to the customer and wrote a fair and equitable contract then there would not be all the complaints. The contracts give no out or recourse to the customer, that is the truth no matter what you say.
By the way, please don't tell me you consider the Sea Pearl in Patong four star. I have stayed in better motels for a fraction of what our TS cost us. $38K USD up front and $650 per year maintenance. Clearly not value fora floating week once a year. We originally sihned up for less than half the lump sum price and a third of the maintenance. The TS game, especially Absolute deserve all the vitriol that they receive.
We were recently sold an upgrade to our floating week in Samui which turned out to be smoke and mirrors, more deceipt from Samui. It is no wonder people like us bag the TS industry and especially Absolute.

Phil:

thank you for the info/

the $38k up front, and $650 per year really puts into perspective

figure you use the time share for 20 years, and its really outrageous ($51000) $2550 per year

one could spend much less each year and book on their own

and no garentee the time share company will still be in business for how long??

I'm a Singaporean and the latest victim! just bk from bkk, encountered exactly the same situation, however i'm back in Singapore so and spoke to a lawyer. anything i can do to get a refund but i'm not going to let the matter rest. I felt i was hypnotize! nonetheless, I'm public relations trained and have contacts with journalists and reporters i thinking of raising the awareness of this scam in Asia Pacific so that we can help our fellow countrymen to be aware and not fall for this trap! However i will need you to do your part so that media from Sin, Malaysia, Thailand can pick up the story and cover the story (i think as victims, this is the least we can is to STAND UP to raise the awareness so that our countrymen boycott the store, and hope no one visit them!)

My PR plan

FACEBOOK: Get me a few days, I will setup a fan page group to Boycott the store! I need as much pp to join and hope these you guys (victims can share this distasteful experience in the page) then using this powerful social media, let's share this page to as much friends as possible...



PRESS RELEASE:



Guys:

Firstly, I noticed there was another EW (posted on Sun 15 Mar 2009 21:30:58 CDT). I am the other one using the same nick (posted on Mon 05 Oct 2009 18:02:09 CDT).

Mikey,
To answer your question. No I wasn't given anything to drink.

This is how the trick worked on people. First, the first man at the shrine outside CentralWorld said you can get a tuk-tuk for a cheap fare. I guess this got people suckered in because who has heard of cheap tuk-tuk fare?

No. 2. The man said it's just nearby and asked you to check out the temple. Guess many people on holiday do have some time to kill and since it's nearby, why not? The man then sort of pulled you to the tuk-tuk even when I don't want to go there. Oh, how helpful. Again, why not?

No. 3. At the temple, the 2nd man gave a friendly chat. He played the I-am-nice-and-helpful trick again. He told me I should take off my cap in the temple. This trick worked on people and making you feel guilty. So you sort of feel obligated to stay around and chat with him. Elsewhere, I read that this man asked people to sit down and said it is not polite to stand in the temple. Again, same trick, see? Trying to make you feel guilty and be thankful to him for pointing out your 'mistakes'.

No 4. This 2nd man played the 'greed' trick. Telling you stories that you can make a lot of profit by buying the gems from Yindee and then selling it off in your country. He also said you are not supposed to tell Yindee that you are buying it for profit-making. I guess it sort of built a tiny program into your mind to make you buy and not question about anything until you go back to your country. When you reach your country, it'll be too late.

No. 5. After talking to the man and having obtained the address of Yindee, you asked the tuk-tuk driver. The tuk-tuk driver pretended for a moment he didn't understand what I said, and then said, "oh yes, Yindee Export, I know, it's very near."

It didn't cross my mind tricks after tricks. They acted well. Even the tuk-tuk driver speaks good English, but I only noticed this after taking a few more tuk-tuks and discovered generally they don't speak English.

No. 6. At Yindee. The old lady that greeted me was another hell of a great actress. Speaking very good English. Perfect English. Hypnotizing way of speaking and persuasive.

That's my story. And my opinion of how I was scammed. After this experience, I will never buy anything expensive when I go for a holiday. Not especially when strangers tell you it's a good deal.

Any one had successfully claim back the money from this scam.
We had face the same scam on 1 Nov 2009.
Please advise us how to go about it.

thanks

hi
i just met this incident today, and i am back to malaysia.
Please advise what should i do to claim back my money
has anyone manage to do it?
do i need to fly back or i can get friend to do it?

hi, me and my boyfriend faced the same tricks on 28 Nov, exactly the same, before I think these all coincidents and that I'm lucky but when I search for this "Buddha's heart" things on net see if these are all real, then I saw this site. I just knew I have been scammed after reading all the other people stories...
I felt so stupid right now.
I paid in cash baht at that store... don't know will this be okay to claim back...
What can I do?

Same tricks regarding "Buddha Hearts"! On 13 Dec 09, my hubby and I bought 3 orange sapphires from Yindee. We bought the stones not because we wanted to earn a profit, we bought it for our children. We thought the "Buddha's heart" will protect our kids. Can someone help? How to get a refund from Yindee without going back to BKK?

I don't mean to be rude to those of you that have been scammed, but pleaset read previous stories above on how to try and get your money back.

Near the top of the page, there is one written by Linda, Wed 09 Jul 2008 17:13:23 CDT

It's sad to hear someone like Irene putting salt in Norzani's wound. Of course I am sure there are some people who can ignore these con men easily by ignoring with a smile. But I believe these people do have their ways and when they are out to get you, they do find the ways. Topics like saving sick family members, that is one of the many things to strike a chord in the victim's heart. We all care very much for our family members and that would be our weak point for them to take advantage. So, Irene, I know there are greedy people in the world, there there are also a lot of caring people who are blinded by these con men because some times there are no more ways for them to save their loved ones. So, don't be too hard on the victimes :)

Sigh, I am another victim from this whole yin dee scam. I will try contacting what Linda had put up as I had tried calling my credit card company and they had said the money had already gone to their bank. This is very sad. Not only I gt food poisioning but also scamed there. Hopefully I will get my money back.

What if you cancel your credit card and they say they an only issue a credit voucher? does it work?

We juz bk frm BKK todae 16/o1/2010...as above mention we met the so call "scam"...we both r at pratunum complex....same old story bla bla..then in the temple met a well dressed man...talking abt "budda heart"...i was mistaken his meaning thought he is toking abt "budda art"...so..patiently listen to his story...after that the tutu brought us to this yindee shop..then i was realise is jewellry....thank god..i reali tot is "budda art" nt heart..we both are nt interested in "jewerly'..i reali salute that man can reali swear n tok so much wonderful things infront of the budda n those people are alrdy passaway...pls dun believe these ppl...reali sicking!!!!!

I was scammed too. Same area in Pratunam center, the lady even told me that her husband is the police in charge to the tuk tuk there. I realise somthings amissed after reaching Yindee but fearing that there's other compliance and might do something bad to us, i just bought a SGD200 ring and leave the shop immediately.

OMG, we juz got scammed on 21st Jan 2010...like what happened to others, meeting not 1 but 2 "smaritians" and when at Lucky Buddha met another "honest looking" men telling us how his mum gets healed and back on her feet again..and how this stone helped his son blah blah blah...my mother brought a sapphire ring at 27000bht!! with all the brainwashing and thinking we met some kind souls..she brought the ring hoping to cure sickness and bring good luck...haiz...is really sad how people do go all ways and means to get what they want..SHIT!! we r just plain stupid..can we still get the refund if we go back to bangkok and demand from Yindee or need to make a police report first?? Arrghh so disppointed with these human beings..not the money but the trust of meeting "nice people" is no longer avail....

The same thing happened to me outside Central World on the 28/1/2010 but lucky we had a relative in the jewellery business who we called outside Yindee before the purchase and we got away unscathed. So be wary everyone because it is still happening!

I just returned from BKK yesterday. I encountered both! One at the Grand Palace and they brought me to the so called 'export centre' which is ERAWAN LAPIDARY. Entirely same story as the rest... And on the last day yesterday morning, at Pratunam Centre, I met a guy who claimed to be the manager of the place say it isn't open due to the 'BUDDHA DAY' reason which used on me on the first occasion.

To everyone reading this, THIS IS STILL HAPPENING TILL TODAY.

ANYONE ASKING YOU IF IT'S FIRST TIME TO BKK SAY NO! AND DON'T LET ANY 'KIND SOUL' SPOIL YOUR TRIP THERE.

My hubby and I bought loose stones from Yindee in Dec 09. We were very very sad when we found out that it was a scam. We followed the advices gathered from different sites and we got a 100% refund. Firstly, my hubby called up Tourism Authority of Thailand S'pore Office. The staff at the Embassy took down the detail and they helped us to file a report with the tourist police in Thailand. We did not get a gemologist to assess the stones. However, someone must go back to Bangkok to file for a complaint.

My hubby went back to Bangkok to lodge a report with the tourist police (Bangkok Tower Building - 2017 Petchaburi New Road) in January. The tourist police helped us to call Yindee to ask for a refund. My hubby went down to the shop alone. He returned the loose stones and got a credit voucher slip issued by Bangkok Bank. The guy in Yindee did not make thing difficult for my hubby. On the same day, my hubby took a flight back. We waited for nearly 3 weeks but the refund was still not credited to our credit card account. My hubby called the tourist police in Bangkok and we got the refund after two days. We were very happy that we finally got the refund. It is worthwhile to get a ticket and fly back to Bangkok.

Good luck!!

We managed to get 100% refund for our purchases. We followed t Can I still get my refund wo visiting the gemologist? Dun wish to incure anymore further expenses.

To anyone who has been successful in the refund..I need to know


- when the refund is scheduled on Credit Voucher, does it mean they are using an eftpos machine and then u can get a receipt of the transaction?

- If you cancel your old credit card (the one you bought the gems) and now approaching them with New Credit card...do you think still the transaction can take place?

- When you travek to thailand, carrying the 'gems' with you...do you need to take some precautions while they are xraying your luggage? Any chances a custom officer asks you to pau custom fees?

I highly appreciate if you could answer any of these questions. I am flying back this sunday.

The credit voucher comes in carbon copies, we received the customer's copy (yellow). On the voucher, our transaction info such as our last few digits of our credit card and other reference no. on our charge slip (the one we bought the gems) are shown.

The credit voucher is issued using the info. on the charge slip. Voucher was already ready before my hubby reached the shop. In this case, you may want to demand cash from them.

My hubby just put the gems in his hand-carried bag and no questions asked. All the best and good luck!

Thanks RM...you are the first person who has explained what this credit voucher is! I think in my case I just have to insist on cash as my old card is canceled and the account is closed. However this shouldnt be an excuse for them. Im still in two minds to go to tourist police or DIT...

Hubby & I just fell for the same scam too last weekend. We did purchase a loose piece of 'buddha heart' for RM1200! I nearly fell for the rings as well....but I held back. We didnt even know that we were scam victims till my colleague alerted me yesterday at work. Gosh, we even prayed to the 'buddha heart', the way the "nice lady" at Yindee Export Centre taught us too.
All the "nice" samaritans we met along the way...the guy in front of Central world, the Tuk Tuk driver, the well dressed Thai man at the temple and the sales lady at the export centre. Gee! Can't believe we fell for it.
I just cannot understand how they can 'lie' / do such things infront of the religious gods. These "nice" people can certainly win Oscar awards!
I guess scam victims like us were hipnotized to fall for the "LUCKY BUDDHA DAY".
Advice to all out there: DO NOT BE ANOTHER VICTIM! NEVER BELIEVE ANYONE!

The men at Central World that lied to you are Police.
The Central World cannot get rid of them.
They are there everyday, telling lies to tourists.
Been doing it for years.

We too met a man at the lucky budda when we were taken their by tuktuk, he asked questions about being married and when we were going back to UK and that we should visit the export centre as there is a sale there for just 3 days in the year which was ending tomorrow. When in the shop we were encouraged to buy some items at 40% discound and parted with £1400 for 4 items.

Next morning at breakfast we searched for Yindee Lapidary Co and came across this site, luckily we had a few hours before leaving so decided to take a hotel car back to the shop to get a refund.

When in the shop they insisted that they couldn't refund and that we had signed a contract to agree to this, a threat of calling the police didn't work and our driver explained that they would just pay off the police so this probably wouldn't work. In the end we insisted that wouldn't leave the shop until they refunded us and caused a lot of fuss about this being scam which really upset them as it was putting other customers off buying. It took about an hour and going upstairs with them, getting no where and then going downstairs to cause a fuss until they agreed to refund 80%. At first they wanted to make this payment with a paper slip through a manual machine, not worth the paper that it was written we thought so as they wouldn't refund through the electric card washine we insisted on cash. Of course they argued that they didn't have this sort of cash but after more fuss in the main shop, suddenly they managed to find 40,000 bhat. After signing some paperwork we took the cash and left.

Advise, avoid this place at all costs, if you have been caught out already and can go back to the shop, in a calm fashion, make as much fuss as you can in the shop and after an hour or two, you will get most of your money back, but you will have to persistant and insistant and don't take any nonesense about them not giving a refund.

Gosh, the more i read abt this website and comments, Im sadly admit that my wife n myself have been scammed too while in BKK..on 23 Feb 2010

The whole incident appear like so coindence as mentioned by ROSE in the earlier post.

We approached by lady at the Central World ( Isetan entrance to be exact) while we walking towards to the Buddha statues. This lady told us there is a Lucky Buddha temple nearby as it only open once in a month and told us we were very "lucky" on that day as it open on that day 2 and told us abt the Yndee's shop which are the wholeseller of all gemstones. She even translate the the temple and the shop to us on a pc of paper and call a tuk tuk for us .

When we reached the Lucky Buddha temple, a well dressed Thai man was praying and he told us we need to burn the incense if we wanna our wish comes true. He asked us we how we can find this temple as this temple was quite secluded n out of friendliness, we explained how we came here. He claimed that the women was so nice n thai ppl were so helpful n bla bla bla. After a long great history abt himself, he
mentioned about "Buddha's Heart" which is a Orange Sapphire and how he was granted 2 daughters. He then showed us he bought another sets of this stones for her wife and his friend. He also explained that this Yindee will no longer entertain walk-in public as the Thai government has stop them due to the closure of 1 mining site and left only 1 in whole Thailand. Again , he told us we were lucky cos today is the last day that this Yindee doing a promotion to public.

After 20mins of conversation from this Thai man, we took the same tuk tuks to Yindee Lapidari Co Ltd.

Lastly , when we reach the gem shop, we approached by well versed English speaking mid-age woman at Yindee Lapidari Co. Ltd came to us explaining the difference between glass and Orange Sapphire with a detector, afterwhich told us that today is their last day of sales which we are able to enjoy 30% off the retail price and tax exempted and limited to 3 pieces of jewelleries consist of earrings, pendant and ring. We ended up buying a ring consist of 4 buddha heart stone a 2 diamond cost THB 50,000.

Sadly to see this scam already started since early 2000 when i google it last nite when im back to MY.

So, do i need to look for a germalogist to rectify and ask Yindee for refund if the report show it is fake or below market value ????

Those scammers at Central Worls are there everyday.
Central World managemeng knows this but nothing they can do about it since the scammers are thai police or working for the police.
You can see the scammers at the nearby Erawan, on the corner of Wireless, in front of the Dusit Thani Hotel, Montien Hotel, Jim Thompson store etc.
They are deployed by the police all over Bangkok every day at 9AM.

Buddha Heart Scam in Pratunam (in front of Central World), Lucky Buddha and Yindee Lapidary Co. Ltd.
This started with my arrival in Sunday (7 Mar, 2010) to Bangkok. A friendly stroll end up in a scam.
It all started when you landed up in Pratunam and the so called "temple manager" being nice and polite to you. After praying he will immediately offer you a special day that you could visit Lucky Buddha. Tuk Tuk would be arranged for you immediately and you only pay THB20 to get to Lucky Buddha temple. So called a special day where the temple open to public once a month. All you know, upon entering the temple you will bump into a nicely dressed man that eventually claimed to be working for a bank and have special liason with Maybank in Malaysia. Then he will explained that his wife works for Thai Airways. Prior to this his wife also a colleague to Poh Kong jewelry in Malaysia. He will share some miracle experience whereby his mother have leg problem and finally managed to walk again due to drinking the Buddha Heart water. He will also mentioned that his wife and mother are in meditation class next building to the Lucky Buddha temple. He came late dur to the fact that his daughter went for swimming class. Almost every day he has to fly out of Thailand. If you are from Malaysia then he will immediately say that he will fly tomorrow to KL and show you his Maybank name card belong to a VP in Maybank called David. He will explained in detail about the benefit of Buddha Heart and tell you a soap story about its benefits. Atter which he will ask for a piece of paper where he could write down the company name where you could buy Buddha Heart as it is the last day and shop will close at 3:30pm the same day (to increase your urgency to get it). Tuk tuk will then send you there immediately and you will end up buying some rubbish stones from Yindee Lapidary Co. Ltd.
Story ended up SAD.
What you should do and thanks to this web page!!
Go to Tourist Police Station in Bangkok Tower (moving to MBK by early early Apr, 2010), New Petchburi Road, file a complaint and look for Inspector Mr. Nasir (Sg Golok resident) that speak Malay and English. He will then call Yindee to send in a cancellation slip if you purchase through credit card. If by Cash then you may have some problem. Otherwise, call your credit card firm and file a complaint and all you have to do is fill in a dispute form and send it back to your credit co to cancel it. Dont panic as Thai Tourist Police is really professional and uphold their principle and integrity to resolve the matter. I must say not all Thai will use Buddhism to cheat as there are surely kharma for such people.
J

If you been scam go to tourist police and pressure them do not afraid told them that you will go and complain to your wembassy and need only full refund

If you have problem with tourist police then you just have to tell them that you will make a police report, they will try to avoid it by solving the problem if they could settle it. They try to avoid us making a police report.

For the sake of everyone, I am planning to write to Mr Nasir boss of the Tourist Police. Firstly to compliment Nasir for his professional and fats action to resolve the problem with Yindee Lapidary Co Ltd and secondly to ask them why they kept allowing Yindee Lapidary Co Ltd to continue such a Buddha Heart scam? This surely affect reputation of Thailand. Secondly, allowing Yindee to continue business through scam would only wasting resources of the police only. Then I shall see what he is going to reply. Prevention better than cure.
J

Me too is a victim
Tat a good ideas.
Pls keep me update on the outcome
my email is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

My bf and myself were also victims, but we were blessed and managed to get a 'refund'. It happened more than a year ago, and i am surprise it is still happening now! I mean, the officials should at least do something, right?

The plot was almost the same as what happened to most of the victims. My bf and myself bought a set of jewelry each, which cost us about SGD8,000 in total. Our intention of buying the jewelry was to go back to Singapore and sell it at a higher price (which they claimed many Singaporeans do that). After buying the jewelry, i felt very uneasy.. To be honest, i am not a risk taker at all. I am not that type who will 'invest' in something unless it has guaranteed returns. During that time, I was still saving money to pay for my part time university fees, and i am surprised i actually bought it that time!

Anyway, after we bought the jewelry, we went back to our hotel and kept it in the safe, and continued our shopping. When i was trying on some clothes at a departmental store, my bf suddenly came knocking at the fitting room's door, shouting 'we got scammed! Hurry change and come out!". (My bf actually went to google 'yindee' while i was trying on my clothes, and the first result was "YINDEE SCAM"!)

I was afraid and angry at the same time. So we immediately went back to the hotel, got hold of the 2 sets of jewelry, and went straight to the police station. The police did not understand what the both of us were talking about. Again, we were lucky to have met a Thai lady there who helped us to translate.

The police then called Yindee shop from the police station, and spoke to the boss. The boss said fine, and asked us to go down to the shop to get a refund. We felt insecure and unsafe, so we insisted the police to go with us. The police agreed, and 2 of them accompanied us down to the shop.

When we reached the shop, the boss insisted that we bought it on our own accord and the receipts stated 'no refunds' of items bought. We told him that we have already searched the net and we know that it was a scam. Finally, the boss finally 'gave way' and told us that he will refund us ONE set. We were so heated up, and after more argument and with the help of the police, the boss finally agreed to let us have both sets of jewelry refunded. We managed to get our money back!

I feel that my my bf and myself were blessed by Buddha. And i seriously believe that they used some kind of spell or hypnotisation to get people to buy.

"I mean, the officials should at least do something, right? "

This is Thailand. Officials are running the scam..Now you know.

any problem and need advise e-mail to ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )
we have answer to solve your problem

roflmao, i fell victim too, luckily i googled it on the same day itself (despite it being already 12 am here) gonna file a report tomorrow =p

e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if you are victim this is the answer how to make refund this group was the old victim of yindee and been experience how to make 100% refund

Hi, yes we were a victim to these scammers too. my husband and i went to Thailand in early April, and same old story, we were at the platunam center and a man came up alleging to be the center's manager advising that it's buddha day and to go to the lucky tenple where we were accidently met by this well dressed thai man that told us a sob story about his mother being sick and due to the buddha heart that she is better and it is only recently that the gov'ment is selling it and blah blah and that a sale was on at yindee and only for 1 day with 30% off. we pay $3000 for a few items that are pretty much worthless. we have no idea what to do as we are in Australia now and we were in bangkok on the 2nd April 2010.

i know it's not all thai people, but it leaves a bad impression on thai people altogether. We surely won't be going to thailand for a very very long time. thinking back at it, we just can't believe we fell for it but a little too late now. does anyone have any suggesttions to get a bit of our money back or is it too late?

Thai Police run this scam.
Tell you friends and neighbors to avoid thailand.

Yeah - good advice - avoid going to thailand altogether as these scammers are everywhere.

Can't believe how many posts there are! I won't go into detail as my story is the same as everyone else, but I got scammed by SNP Jewelry buying a sapphire pendant for around 25,000 bhat.
I appreciate all the posts here and have contacted Mr. Suchat. I am willing to go back to Bangkok to work this out and from what I have read it looks like I can get 90% back. However, with the protests going on I have asked Mr. Suchat if I can do it without visiting him. He told me that I can, but I will only get 70% back.
I don't have the details yet, but will comment on the site again to let you know how this works out.
Has anyone got money back without going back to Bangkok?

hi neil, i am also a victim of SNP jewelry last 18 April. have u had your jewelry appraised? i have contacted Mr. Suchat also and his secretary said that it will be hard for me to have a refund if i won't go back in bkk. now, i am thinking of other options considering the current sitution now in bkk.

70% ?
Mr Suchart is getting greedy.
Wonder why he makes no attempt to stop the scammers?

Akhmed


he does not want to loose his percentage of the scam

Thai Police run tis scam and use Mr Suchart to shut up the most vocal victims. The scam keeps going and going and going and going.
If Thai Police wanted this to stop it would happen.
The UN says the Thai Police are an organized crime organization.

yes we are the victim too, and just bought it today. and the store name is CHANGE, not again YINDEE but: EXOTIC CENTER.. we'll try to call tourist police and inform you all later..

Victims 2,

Keep a record of your communications with the tourist police. They obviously know about this place and all the scammers that brought you to this place. Will they pass you off to Mr 10% ( Mr Suchart) I wonder?

I already called the tourist office and "expectedly" they already knew, so they didn't asked us a lot about those "Exoctic Center" I talked to Mrs. Naphamat, and she just told me doesn't have to go to the Tourist Police Office, just call her before I go to the Exotic Center and she'll take care the rest of it and we can go to exotic center and have refund, but since I already "read" all this comment on this page, I think we should go there and see her by ourselves and ask (even force her or any police there) to go with us, and accompany us. I think everyone here is very suspicious to see or hear, I can't trust everyone here anymore.. :( pray for us..

Do not trust the Police. I know.
They will help the most vocal complainers (and keep 10%).
This shuts up the most vocal victims so the scam can keep going and going and going.
Spread the word.
The Thais cant get away defrauding foreigners in the communication age.

okay, I come back with GOOD NEWS.

Today we decided to came straight to the Tourist Police Station(TPS). We took skytrain from nana station and stop at Siam Station, just like yesterday, we thought that the TPS at MBK, but it was still at Bangkok Tower actually. And guess what.... the first "scammer man" are still there in front of the Internet cafe exactly accross the Siam center!! we try to passed by, and he knew us! so he run away, and unexpectedly me and my bf (felt) really wanna chase him, and take his picture. so we chase him, he ran to his car that park near by, stayed and we took his car picture, but he knew and ran away from us in a rush with his hand covered his face, so unfortunately we didn't get his face, but we got some pictures to share, where the place is, also the tuk2 driver who took us to the "LUCKY BUDDHA TEMPLE" to the "EXOTIC CENTER"

btw, the Police is quite cooperated, we didn't talked to Mr. Suchart but we talked to Miss. Noppamas, and she help us a lot to communicated to General Manager of Exotic Center, then she took us to get a taxi, and gave the taxi driver direction, map, and also her number. Its quite fast when we got there, they all knew about us, avoided us, then the GM took us to the meeting room, first ask about if we can managed this and consult about the "real" certificate, but we just straightly said "NO, we want our money back". He said okay, we waited then he gave us all of our money back.

this is a lesson for us, to always pay attention, even to the most familiar one that knew about our language, our culture, even our town. beware, because not only accros to Siam Center, but also at GOLDEN MOUNT (we met one that also gave us the "10baht" tuktuk), also at the ERAWAN SHRINE, MBK, PLATINUM, GRAND PALACE, and every tourism part of Bangkok, so please be careful if some Thai people very nice to you and offer you a "10BAHT TUK TUK" to take you to:

T.A.T (tourist information center they said-- but unfortunately it was illegal--not the real TAT)--at first place before LUCKY BUDDHA TEMPLE, because the real T.A.T (near bangkok tower) didn't offer you an expensive tour to Tiger Temple(2450BAHT) or Ayuthaya(2300BAHT), the official Tour from your hotel is more way cheaper -- my hotel tour to ayuthayya just cost only 1200BAHT(we took it :p).

okay thats some happy news from us, please BEWARE! we'll share some pics later :D

i been ride a tuk tuk and invite to buy jewelry at exotic center and bought jewelery a month ago and back at Australia and re- appraise the price is less than 30 % what the hell victim 2 put mess on exotic center i do not understand . The tuk tuk told me about buddha heart they believe it was give you luck but for me it was a good gems stone orange sapphire and it was worth to bought it and pay less if you buy it in Sydney you will pay more 40% sure. And i will give advise to all stupid people that please look before you step forward or else you be fall in manhole drainage. And then post and blame some one becuase of your stupidty. Here my story someone in the Siam Center told about Buddha heart and i am quite interested to buy to my girl friend a rare orange sapphire they bring me at yindee lapidary i been check the price and design but not suite me and walk out they also told me it was last day but who cares it is my money. I ask the tuk tuk that any place that sale buddha heart or Orange sapphire they bring me at Exotic Center big place nice colection bang buy it with bargain. Back home visit the appraisal and bingo good deal Victim 2 have you appraise your goods before you argue maybe not sorry for your experience.I will sure go back to Exotic Center if have chance and purchase more but next time plan to bargain more ha ha ha ha

well daniel, can you show me the info where is the price of "orange saphire" higher? coz we've already check it (a lot googling, almost all night long to see the real price of orange sapphire and the legend of Buddha's heart, and you know what? >> also the tourist police said, there's no such thing called Buddha's Heart, even on wikipedia, there's only "THAI GEM SCAM" on WIKIPEDIA) first on internet, and it was shame that the "orange sapphire" is "real orange" not "red" like they gave to us, and the price is also not as much as we gave them.

I would bet the only persons that are happy with the gems they bought in Thailand are those that never had them appraised

btw, to Daniel, in Exotic center, the price is fix, and they didn't even gave us a chance to bargain... juts how they can sell it fast, "this is the last day" "you can pay with anything" blablabla.. so I think you're one of the scammers too...

I got into the same shit. I was in Bangkok on 17 August. Outside Central World, a man , slf proclaiming as a Economic Lecturer in some University told me abt the Lucky Buddha thingy. I believed. He ordered a tuk tuk to send me to the temple. At the temple, saw this very well groomed man,mentioned its rare for tourists to come to this temple. Then he went into the Orange Sapphire thingy. Out of curiosity, I went to EXOTIC CENTER! I bought a pendant worth 12,800 baht!

Oh dear, while writing this, I am getting pretty worried!
What should I do now?

We also almost trapped in this "Buddha Heart" when we walked around in Central World area. There is a man appeared out of sudden and chit chat with us. He told us that yesterday was a last day of "Lucky Buddha" opening and must go now. He stopped a Tuk-Tuk and direct him to send us there which charged us for 20 Baht for return. He "forced" us to get into Tuk-Tuk even we not willing to do so. After that, the incident same goes with others who trapped in this "Buddha Heart".

We feel lucky enough because don't buy anything in this "The Exotic World" even we paid 50 Baht for the Tuk Tuk (as promised should be 20 Baht) to send us back to Siam Paragon. God bless!

I sent an email to Mr Suchat.
He mentioned that I have to go to Bangkok to get this settled.
This is so sickening!

Mr Suchart is making a lot of spare cash "helping " Victims....for 10%.

Thailand is a sick place.

hm... I wont be going BKK anytime soon..
Sigh...